Ivory Daisy Petals
by Unyielding Wish
Summary: Such mysterious flowers they were, common but unique in their own way. Shun/Alice oneshot.


**Huh. I'm wondering why I did this myself... Maybe I was just in the mood for childish cuteness mixed with seriousness, eh?  
**

**...Bakugan got lame after Gundalian Invaders. After that it was just a bunch of bakugan clashing, and man, as far as I know... DRAGO NEVER STOPS EVOLVING. So that's why I got bored of it and left. :c  
**

* * *

A seven-year-old girl sits at a table, her amber hair falling over her face like finely woven silk, only it was like a sheet of molten gold. Sunlight streaming in from the windows cracks, bends, and refracts from her hair, splitting it into a variety of different colors—the ones that seem to compliment her hair most are the tawny golds, saffrons, and yellows. A young hazel-eyed boy with raven hair, speckled with water droplets from the sprinklers, glistening in the sunshine, sits quietly across from her, not bothering to make any conversation.

The girl is hunched over her work, paying no heed to the boy. Indeed, he could have been a roaring tiger and yet she would not have noticed. No, drawing this picture of flowers for Mommy is more important. As he watches, she bites her lip and concentrates on a curve of line that outlined the daisy's petal.

"Alice," the boy asks finally, "aren't you bored?"

The said girl blinks and looks up; the first thing her burgundy eyes focuses on is the boy. "Shun?" she says incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

Shun smiles and shifts in his seat. "I can ask you the same thing."

Alice falls quiet and picks up her pencil. Her grip is wobbly and drawing the delicate tears in the daisy's fragile petal beyond difficult; it is a nightmare, and sighing finally she drops her drawing tool onto the polished mahogany table. Rubbing her palms, which are strained from holding a pencil so tightly and for so long, she says aloud,

"Daisies are hard to draw."

Shun, who had been staring out the window at a particular boy with messy ochre-brown hair and a cinnamon complexion, immediately snaps to attention. "What?"

"Daisies are hard to draw," she repeats.

His large amber eyes stare into hers unblinkingly. After a while he breaks his gaze away and looks at the paper Alice is drawing on. Five-petaled flowers meet his eyes, drawn clumsily yet with a childish charm.

"They're not bad," he finally says.

"Bad?" Alice frowns at the paper. "They're _horrible,_" but Shun shakes his head.

"It's better than what Dan draws," he says, a smile playing at the edge of his lips as he remembers what happened last fall—when Dan wanted to be an artist. It turned out quite a disaster, involving several overturned paint buckets, a waste of colored pencils, and a mess of broken charcoal.

"But Dan is Dan!" Alice protests, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Alice…," Shun says. The redhead looks at him expectantly, her copper hair glinting in the sunlight. "Do you want to see a _real_ daisy?" he asks.

"I already saw one before," Alice frowns. "In a picture."

"But it's not real. It's in a picture."

"All right, fine." Alice stands up, brushing off her pale yellow dress, an avid, clear reminder of the wild buttercups which bloom every time in spring without fail.

:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:

The sight is breathtaking. An entire field of the small, fragile flowers blooming happily and stretching their centres to the sunshine and waving in the mild, amiable breeze. There is no tree, slope, or other thing that pokes sharply out of the ground for miles around, or it seems to Alice. Instead, the sea of daisies seem to stretch on forever, to the far horizon where the sun kisses the hills in sunset.

Alice stands there speechless for a few moments, her dress fluttering in the breeze.

"Like it?" asks Shun's voice, breaking her out of her thoughts. She looks over at him and finds a rare grin on his face as he bends down to pick a flower. Immediately, as if on impulse, Alice's hand shoots out to grab his wrist.

Shun looks at her questioningly.

"Don't pick it," Alice says. She doesn't know how to describe her feelings.

"You know, if you really want the daisies, why don't you use these as a substitute for your drawing, if you think it looks so bad?" Shun suggests, grabbing a handful anyway and shoving them at her.

Alice frowns and lets the flowers fall at her feet. "But I want to draw them. They're for Mommy."

"My mom always likes fresh flowers," Shun says, surprised. "I thought all moms do."

"Hmm, maybe you're right for once."

:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:

Alice's breath comes out ragged in her throat as she runs up several flights of stairs, in her hands clutching a clear vase. She's so excited, she nearly trips on the hem of her dress as she hurries up; she rips it, but she doesn't care. Giving this is more important.

"Mommy!" she cries, bursting in through the door, gasping her laughs.

The surprised woman turns in her bed, her large copper-rimmed eyes widening when she sees the girl sprinting toward her. Quickly she musters what strength she has left and reaches out to stop Alice. "Slow down."

"Mommy," Alice says, grinning. She still needs to catch her breath, and Mommy lets her do so. Hiding the vase behind her back, she smiles.

"Guess what my present is."

"You're giving me a present, sweetie?" Mommy raises an eyebrow, but doesn't object. Alice nods.

"Guess!"

"They can't be…flowers?" Alice nods again, enthusiastically, as she takes the vase from behind her back, presenting it to her mother.

"Shun and I picked them especially for you! They're the best in the plain of flowers!"

Mommy's eyes widen as she takes the gift with her weak, trembling hands. She, with much difficultly due to her illness, sets it on her bedside counter and smiles at the little girl who's staring at her in anticipation, waiting for her approval.

"It's beautiful, Alice," she says quietly.

:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:

_Alice's mother died the next day. _

:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:

The redhead's eyes were wide as she stands in place as everyone is leaving for the ceremony, her bottom lip trembling. She bites down on it, hard, swearing that she would not cry—in front of everyone, more so. Yet she couldn't calm her racing heart, and she couldn't digest what she's seeing.

People mill past her, their conversations dim and quiet compared to the racket in her head.

Alice might have stood there forever if not for a tap on the back. She turns around, and her eyes meet the shy eyes of the raven-haired boy who showed her the fields of daisies.

"Your mom left this for you," he says, shoving a piece of paper at her.

Frowning, Alice unfolds the paper, and Mommy's handwriting greets her eyes:

_I thought about writing this before the messengers take me away to another land. Alice, may you be as innocent and pure as the daisies you gave me that day. xoxo, Mommy. Dated June 25._

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**Whew. Finally, done. Composed in like 30 min. XP And I'm beat.**

**I guess I'm not used to writing Shun/Alice. WHOOOO, MY 20TH FANFIC! :D That was totally random. Anyway, I actually feel kinda sad now that it's my 20th fanfic.  
**

**I know this is kind of badly composed, with awkward character personalities and all, but I'm not used to writing about characters with a staged personality anymore. Given that, I guess I wouldn't be able to write for most of the categories on here, but oh well...I suck at those drama-filled parts, so that's why the last part is a bit weak.  
**

**~Unyielding Wish  
**


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